The new specifications for science subjects, at both Junior Cert and Leaving Cert, put an emphasis on the application of knowledge in real-world contexts. In other words, students should be able "to do" rather than only "to know". The junior cycle changes in science were introduced for

Dickinson’s descriptive words lend a funereal feel to the poem: The emotion following pain is “formal,” one’s nerves feel like “Tombs,” one’s heart is stiff and disbelieving. The feet’s “Wooden way” evokes a wooden casket, and the final “like a stone” recalls a headstone.

Dickinson's strange and inappropriate choice of words indicates how unlikely she thinks the scenario she is describing is - She purposefully uses surreal comparisons in order to convey how little she she knows about it, almost as though she doesn't know how to write about it.

Dickinsons choice of syntaxt creates a raw sense of pain. She deliberately uses images of her exposed "heart" and "nerves" in order to make the reader flinch, so that they have some idea of the amount of pain she is going through.

The vocabulary used in this poem is comprised of doube dactly words, which creates a surreal flow and a sense of detatchment and well-being.

What does each image in this poem have in common?

The imagery in this poem all begins with vowel-based words, echoing the hollow feeling that Dickinson is trying to capture.

Each image in this poem is viceral and violent, pushing Dickinson's heartbreak and pain to the fore of the page. She describes her raw "nerves" and her exposed "heart".

The imagery in this poem has nothing in common. Dickinson conveys her conflicting and contrasting feelings by presenting us with a series of unlinked, random images.

The imagery in this poem is characterized by the possession of a common quality - that of stiff lifelessness. For instance, the heart is "stiff," the feet walk a "wooden" way, the contentment is a "quartz" contentment, the hour is that of "lead."

What does Dickinson achieve by describing the imagery in the poem in inanimate terms?

By describing the images with adjectives that imply stiffness or lifelessness, Dickinson hammers home the hollow numbness that she is describing.

Dickinson achieves a sense of panic, and flustered movement through this description.

By describing the images in this poem as inanimate objects, Dickinson creates a vivd contrast between the first and second half of the poem. This makes the sudden change to violent imagery and stark, sharp language in this poem all the more shocking.

All the images in this poem are of inanimate objects, such as "quartz", "stone" and "tombs". By referring only to inanimate objects and making no reference to people, Dickinson indicates her disassociation with the content of the poem, indicating that she has little experience of the subject matter.

As the poem progresses, the effect of the numbness seems to set in. How does Dickinson create this?

Dickinson creates this by using the metaphor of frost spreading across her skin, as she watches the bird she previously felt an affinity with, fall dead to the ground.

Dickinson uses sharp, short sounds in this poem in order to create the effect of the numb feeling she is describing.

Dickinson uses the scattered, structureless layout of this poem in order to create the effect of the numbness setting in.

Dickinson uses long, drawn-out sounds in order to convey this, along with dashes and commas to slow the pace. The poem almost grinds to a halt as long-sounding words, separated by comma pauses, trail off into the nothingness of “Ought.”

How does Dickinson immediately grab the readers attention in the first stanza?

Dickinson starts with wild and free imagery, as she watches the bird soar overhead in the air.

She uses alliteration for emphasis: 'f' sounds in line one, and 's' sounds in the rest of the stanza. 'H' sounds tie together "Heart" and "He."

Dickinson uses hyperbole to emphasis the great, crippling physical pain the event in question has had on her.

She doesn't - the poem starts calmly as Dickinson walks alone through the woods. It is only in her explosive use of language and punctuation in the third stanza, with the advent of the thunderstorm, that the reader takes note.

Why does Dickinson reference snow in the final stanza?

This poem is all about the violent, terrible pain Dickinson felt as a result of a great emotional upheaval. She references snow in the final stanza because she is saying that her heart feels like it is buried in the painful, burning cold of snow.

Dickinson refers to snow because she says those who are going through such emotional pain are like people who find themselves buried underneath the snow. First there is the pain or "chill", followed by the numbness she is describing in the poem. Finally there is the release as the freezing person slips away into final dreams among the soft but lethal snow.

The referencce to snow is a humerous one. Dickinson was caught in a summer storm, and despite the fact that she is being pelted by rain, Dickinson compares the sensation of being kissed by snowflakes. She is just as delighted to have been caught in the rain as she would have been to be standing under beautiful, gently falling snow.

The snow is white and pure in this poem. Dickinson is calm and at peace with her situation in the end, and the snow reflects the peaceful clarity of her mind.

What happens in this poem?

Dickinson brilliantly recreates the suffering we undergo after some terrible, excruciating event in our lives.

Dickinson compares the human body to a house, weaving images of being hit by a storm, and creaking with time and age.

Dickinson describes the leaping sensation of a heart that is full of joy.

Dickinson sees a bird flying high above in the sky, and then watches as it is hit by a bullet and plummets towards the ground.

Dickinson never once uses the word "numb" in this poem. How does she express the feeling?

Dickinson delights in the rain hitting her skin, commenting that she didn't feel cold despite the chill in the air. In this way she indicates her numbness to the harshness of reality in that moment.

Dickinson expresses the sense of numbness by carefully describing her shock. The metaphor of the "freezing" ice spreading across her skin indicates the numb shocked state she was in.

Dickinson captures the numbness with "formal feeling," "ceremonious," "like tombs," and "Stiff Heart." The numbness is a lack of feeling; perhaps it would be more accurate to say a lack of connection with feelings or a disconnection from emotions.

Dickinson's casual language and clear indifference to the "great pain" that has just occurred clearly indicates her numbness towards the entire affair.

"This is the hour of lead Remembered if outlived, As freezing persons recollect the snow-- First chill, then stupor, then the letting go." What does this mean?

Dickinson recalling standing in the middle of the forest, having been hit by the sudden realisation (the "hour of lead") that she could die at any moment. She compares herself with "freezing persons"stuck underneath a snow drift, who also know that their death is inevitable. This is also effective in that it indicates the chill spreading over her skin.

Dickinson is comparing the human body to a house in this sranza, speaking of "lead" lined walls that stand through all weather. Though it is unpleasant, a house must accept its duty to shelter thouse within, and eventually must simply give in.

Here Dickinson is essentially saying that it gets worse before it gets better, but if you manage to hold on through the pain experienced in the terrible "hour of lead", you will one day remember looking back on the trial you went through, and recall letting go and moving on.

Dickinson is directly referencing the effects that her broken heart had on her in this stanza. She refers to the physical effect of the great pain that she went through, speaking of how her whole body felt cold and that she felt as though her mind had simply let go.

Is the poet hurt in this poem?

Dickinson is experiencing great pain in this poem. She compares her heart to a cracked "quartz" stone.

The poet is psychologically hurt, but there is no pain now, only numbness. The “formal feeling” suggests the protagonist’s withdrawal from the World.

Dickinson twists her ankle in this poem, as "the feet, mechanical, go roud" a root. She was caught so suddenly in the storm and is overtaken by such delight she doesn't watch where she's going.

The pain in this poem must be physical, as the poet directly references "a great pain" and damaged "nerves".

What does this poem have in common with another poem of Dickinson's

Similar to "I taste a Liquor never brewed", Dickinson is delighting in nature in this poem, which reminds her of her capacity for joy.

Just like "A narrow fellow in the grass", Dickinson experiences an intense moment where she relates to a wild animal.

Dickinson makes use of funeral imagery in this poem, just as she does in "I Felt a funeral in my brain". Similarly, the imagery is used to indicate a numbness and a distance from the proceedings outlined in the poem itself.

The poet is poking fun at the idea of psychological pain in this poem, just like she pokes fun at the tradition and ceremony surrounding death in "I heard a Fly buzz when I died".

What happened to the poet that she feels the need to describe her emotional state?

Seeing the bird being shot down had a startling effect on Dickinson. In that moment she compared herself to that bird, and the sudden shock of seeing it shot down reminded her of the unpredictable nature of life.

Dickinson fell in love with a married man late in her life, and she intimately describes the feeling of heartbreak that accompanied her knowledge that they would never be together.

While out on a walk, Dickinson was caught in a sudden rainstorm, and the sensation reminded her that she was alive. The joy and excitement she feels bursts from every line in this poem.

The specific cause of the hurt in this poem doesn't matter. In this poem, the focus is on the result of the hurt, and it is the response that matters.

"The feet, mechanical, go round A wooden way Of ground, or air, or ought," What comes next?

The weight of lead and flesh stripped right to bone.

Regardless grown, A quartz contentment, like a stone.

Like a fish in water, gasping, dying, caught.

Relentless moan, a dead resentment, like a drone.

What can be said about the structure of this poem?

"After great pain" is very formal, and has a very strict strucuture.

There is no structure to the poem "After great pain".

Very little.

“After great pain” is structurally looser than most Dickinson poems.

Who is the speaker in this poem?

This poem has no speaker, no "I." Dickinson writes of people's reaction to pain in general, describing the effects in terms of seperate body-parts: nerves, heart, feet.

Because this poem focuses so intently on the pain Dickinson felt as a result of her heartbreak, it's very clear that she is the speaker in this poem. It is intensly personal.

There is no one speaker in this poem. Instead Dickinson personifies separate parts of the human body, and has them describe their symptoms in order to communicate the effects of the great pain.

The speaker in this poem is a disembodied observer, who watches Dickinson as she walks through the woods.

Quartz contentment is a very odd line. What does it mean?

Dickinson is trying to convey that her contentment, meaning her happiness, is so solid it is as though it was encased in quartz.

Quartz is a very strong stone. This metaphor combines heaviness and density with the idea of contentment. Dickinson is showing the extent of the numbness suffered, by showing how a person could be weighed down with emotional pain, but too numb to fight against it, staying 'content'. Quartz also looks like ice, adding to the 'numbness' Dickinson conveys within the poem.

Quartz is a clear crystal, and Dickinson uses the crystal to establish that her happiness is clear and simple to understand.

Quartz is a sharp stone, and Dickinson uses the comparison so that we understand that her contentment is not real. She is bristling with anger at her circumstances. Perhaps every time she moves she feels like the effort of pretending to appear content cuts into her, like the sharp edge of quartz would cut into human skin.

Who is the 'He' that Dickinson is referring to?

Dickinson is referring to the married man, with whom she fell deeply in love, but could never be with. The capital letter highlights his importance in her life.

The capital letter indicates that Dickinson is referring to her father, whom she held in very high regard, but was not close to.

The capital letter in the world indicates that 'He' is a reference to Jesus Christ. The poet is questioning whether or not they are experiencing the pain suffered by the Son of God when he struggled with the cross.

Dickinson is referring to the bird, who experienced brief and glorious freedom, before being shot abruptly to the ground.

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The smell of freshly cut grass starts to dwindle, shops have trouble keeping copybooks, pens, and pencils on their shelves, and schools begin to become hubs of life once again: all signs that a new school year is en route! However, although going back to school is a fresh start